LR220

I paid for my own travel for the first time and it was 4700 CAD airfare included for a 22 day trip to France, Switzerland and Italy. Without airfare, it came to 155/day for accommodation, attractions, meals, and intercity transport. We went to 11 places and I don't regret it as I saw exactly what I wanted to see in each place. I thought it was cheap trip because I was anticipating spending much more since we did have at least 17 expensive meals (0 homecooked meals), drank everyday/several times a day and took 3 guided tours. We had some mistakes like taking a cab twice where we could easily take the metro or walk and a bad restaurant in Rome. Some people my age think it was an expensive trip, but others consider it to be a cheap trip for 22 days. So how much do you usually budget per day for a vacation?

nytraveler

Well we are - I suspect - a whole lot older than you are and well-established in our careers. So finding the time for a vacation - esp at the same time - is much more difficult than being able to pay for it. We would definitely pay more than that since we budget 250 to 300 euros for our hotels.

Oh - and we don;t have a budget. Just do what seems to be most enjoyabe at the time. We do shop for hotels (pleasant central hotels at a bargain price - I mean pleasant as one step down from luxury - not tourist) and car rentals.

But our younger DD, then 19, went two summer ago with a couple of friends and spent about US$ 175 per day - but that included intercity travel (but not airfare). So what you spend seems perfectly reasonable to me - although obviously not a true student budget trip - with couchsurfing and mostly picnics, etc.

annhig

C$155 per day is pretty cheap for everything excluding airfare - is that each or for 2 people?

We reckon on £100 [€120] per day for accommodation and the same again for food, transport etc. etc. we don't budget as such either as like nyt, we are short of time, not [so much] money.

Christina

I'm in the same camp as nytraveler. I don't have to scrimp on a vacation because I earn a good salary, don't travel that much due to little vacation time, and I just don't have extravagant tastes in general, so I don't have to do anything special to try to rein myself in. For example, I have never in my life spent over $50 for a purse, and I see threads on here all the time about people spending several hundred dollars on one just for fun. Ditto other clothes and just life in general, I don't dine in expensive restaurants ever. So my point is, it isn't a conscious effort nor do I have to do any special budgeting.

To translate, your 155 CAD is about US$138 or 100 euro. No, I don't travel for that amount as my hotels often run more than that. But it really depends where I am and how expensive it is. Recently I was in southern SPain, and I probably did only spend that amount as I didn't eat that much there, nor in expensive restaurants, and my hotels were only about 70 euro. But in an expensive city in peak season (meaning most of September through June), I may spend 200 euro on a 3* hotel in certain cities, in a good area, just what it costs.

But when I was very young and just out of school and had little money, I did travel for an equivalent amount (I think, hard to know how what I spent would translate to today's money) as I stayed in a lot cheaper hotels than I do now. That's the biggest change. I may have tried to budget food a little bit more than now, whereas now if there is a place I really want to go to, I will spend 40-50 euro for dinner (including drinks). I've never spent more than that. But even now, I don't do that every night. I wouldn't have done that when I was young.

thursdaysd

It depends not only on how much money you actually have, and your tastes in food and wine, but <b>where</b> in Europe you are. I just spent 20 days in Romania, sleeping in three and four star hotels, eating well, drinking plenty of wine, tea and coffee, and talking quite a few taxis, for $121/day - and that was traveling solo. I am now in Austria, I have no doubt my average will be higher. Although not excessively so, as I have no intention of eating in Michelin starred restaurants, and my hotel rates are reasonable.

Pegontheroad

I spend $5000 or $6000.

My tastes aren't extravagant, and I'm not crazy about eating solo in expensive restaurants. I don't usually have 3 meals a day when I travel. I have breakfast and lunch, but I often buy cheese, a roll, yogurt and fruit for dinner and eat it in my room, since a full dinner at a restaurant is usually too much for me.

I'm also a picky eater, so I don't want anything exotic. I've been known to have a burger and fries if I'm desperate. I don't eat fast food at home, but I will make an exception when I travel.

I try to pick hotels that range from $100 to $150 per day.

I do what I want to do, and I don't pay a lot of attention to the cost, unless it's very high, in which case my hidden frugal streak will emerge.

Nowadays I usually stay in a given country for about 3 weeks.

Frances

On Interrail in 1975 we survived on £3 per day per person after payment of our railcard! It means nothing today but probaly equated quite well to "Europe on $5 a day" which all the American students were reading.
It is rare for us to take a package now and like the previous posters we are also more "cash rich/time poor".
We do however manage some 6 foreign trips a year but these are now generally only ten days at a time because of family commitments.
There is no norm for airfares-we'll take the most convenient from Manchester( why is it so difficult to fly to Puglia from Manchester?)
Like Annhig £100 per night for a hotel of character is normally ample and has been for many years. There are exceptions of course - Scandinavia being one and the Cotswolds another.
Food is a major part of any holiday and we are happy to pay about £100 for dinner for two.
Lunch is a light meal -usually accompanied by one or two beers.
Other than that we have an idea of what we want to do when we book and so we pay whatever this costs.
We book a long way in advance and so also secure early booking discounts. Sometimes particularly if travelling with our children and families we use Avios points for hotels - especially city hotels which knock the budget when you have 6.5 people every night.
We nearly always pre-book car hire and so secure a cheaper price(except in Greece this summer where we hired for 20 or 25 euros a day).

Cathinjoetown

I think you did very well, particularly because you seem delighted with your trip and that's what it's about, isn't it?

Sure, as your friend said, you could have possibly done it for less and if that's important, you'll know where you can trim your sails next trip--IF you want.

There are no hard and set rules, when I was younger I put up with a lot more discomfort than I do now. When we travel we don't have a budget as much as limits--we don't like to pay much more than $200 a night for a hotel but know we have to pay much more in London or New York, for example, for the location and level of comfort we want.

Most of our meals are moderate with maybe 1-2 drinks each and a few splurges each trip. I'm glad I'm still happy to sit on a park bench with a baguette sandwich and watch the world go by.

Keep travelling!

danon

A half- decent 3 star hotels in central Paris are around 200 euros,
but in Madrid or Berlin ( especially in smaller cities around Europe) one can get a
good 4 star hotel for less.
I don't " just sleep" in the hotel: it has to be comfortable , good size room and in a pleasant
part of town. For longer than 5 days we often rent apt .for the space.
Lodging is more important to us than spending a lot on food.( except for dinner!).
Also, we tend to take taxis, attend concerts (or the opera), visit museums
and galleries....it all adds up.
I am not big on shopping since we live in a big city and have all the stores we want.

bvlenci

My husband and I spend less than some of the others on this board. Of course, if you calculate the cost per person, two people can travel more cheaply than one because of the hotel pricing system. I would guess our hotels usually average about €110 for a double. We don't mind small rooms (within reason) or stairs rather than elevators. We do like a comfortable bed, but that doesn't seem to be very well correlated with price.

We generally eat in restaurants, but we have light meals, especially in the evening. We also are not wine, beer, or cocktail drinkers. We don't eat in expensive restaurants when traveling, as our reasons for traveling are not food-related. We look for a decent meal at a reasonable price. Often we share a course, for example, we may each order an appetizer and share a main course, or each order just a main course and share a dessert. In Italy, where we live, we often each order a first course, then share one second course and one vegetable side. I would say we probably spend €30-40 euros per day on food.

In my opinion, intercity travel eats up an inordinate amount of most people's travel budget. We usually try to spend three or four days in each place as a minimum, although we may have a few one- or two-night stays mixed in. If traveling by train, I try to find discounts, but I don't like to order no-refund tickets too far in advance, so I have to balance the two things.

We do spend a fair amount on museum entrances and the like, but it's hard to generalize about these expenses, as they vary so much from place to place.

We don't, as a general rule, shop much at our destinations, other than to pick up a little something for the grandchildren.

outwest

We probably spend about Can$5000 all-in for a two week trip (for both of us, not each). We always travel off-season for various reasons (money, crowds, work schedule) and, depending on location, I can usually find hotels for 75 Euros/night or less. I find that budget accommodations in Europe can be really quite charming and good value--a lot cheaper than somewhere like NYC, in my experience. We've also stayed in apartments a few times.

We splurge on museum admissions because that's our main interest. We eat pretty cheaply but try to have a few nicer experiences on each trip. We rarely use taxis (never been a fan) and either walk or use public transit. But that's more to do with our nature than to save money.

Christina

<<We do however manage some 6 foreign trips a year but these are now generally only ten days at a time because of family commitments.>>

Really, you consider that "time poor", to take at least 60 days of vacation or more a year? I guess if you are retired then time is no barrier, but even though I said I don't have to watch my budget that much, I could never afford that.

I will admit that what some people desire doesn't even appeal to me, such as to travel for extended periods of time. I miss my home and thigns at home, and no matter where you stay, it's never really as comfortable as home in some ways IMO. And I really do find a comfortable bed correlates a lot with what you pay for the hotel, unlike someone else. Because a comfortable bed is of prime importance to me. As well as just a room that isn't a total dump and bathroom that isn't like a garage, but I"ve never had a comfortable bed in a real cheap 1* hotel. The worst to me are foam mattresses (cheap foam, not like the expensive stuff people buy nowadays) but also very old, saggy ones or conversely, real cheap beds with only a mattress on a board that are as hard as concrete.

glenmd

I aim more more towards the budget end of things. I have spent about 6 months (well, for the purposes of this conversation, the 5 weeks I spent walking the camino Frances doesn't really count) in Europe over the last 5 and half years and I don't think I have ever paid 100 euros a night for a hotel in Europe. I don't drink beyond the very occasional beer and wouldn't have much interest in expensive dining experiences even if they were free. Tours, unless they can take me somewhere I can't get to on my own, are another thing on the "not even if it was free" list.

When budgeting for a trip, I usually assume 100 Euros a night for accommodation and 100 a night for food/museums etc. I always have a bunch of unspent trip funds at the end.

I do sometimes have costs that I separate out for the regular budget. For example. good seats at the opera festival in Verona run close to 200 Euros (worth every penny) and the riding school performances in Vienna weren't cheap either.

LR220

>>C$155 per day is pretty cheap for everything excluding airfare - is that each or for 2 people?<<

It was per person. So maybe a bit much? But I did think it was worth it, especially since the cities we visited are known to be quite expensive.

>>I think you did very well, particularly because you seem delighted with your trip and that's what it's about, isn't it?

Sure, as your friend said, you could have possibly done it for less and if that's important, you'll know where you can trim your sails next trip--IF you want.<<

Yes, definitely! There isn't really a part of the trip I would change in particular, I think things fell together well and there wasn't any "wasted time" but still enough time to relax and take in our surroundings while never feeling like we were rushed. So I was pretty satisfied. I was looking at a tour to Morocco and the total for that trip (8-9 days on the ground) looks like it may come up to $3000, although a large part of the cost is the flight.

We didn't spend that much money on accommodation, but I'm satisfied with a hot shower and a clean room. There were some bad reviews for the places we stayed at, but I found everything was clean and the staff were all friendly and helpful. Maybe we really lucked out. All of it was quite central too, minus the Paris hostel, but that was very accessible by metro and convenient to head to the airport. We did spend a lot on food, but this was mostly in Italy and there was a lot to eat. We didn't try to be very "budget conscious" because it can spoil the trip and make it stressful, but we did keep track here and there of our credit card online statement, withdrawals, etc just to not get hit hard with a huge cc bill after returning. I've read some horror stories of people who won't allow themselves to go over budget on any specific day and how it ends up ruining their trip (and that of everyone else who's traveling with them I suppose).

adrienne

E108 per day per person is very inexpensive, particularly for the countries you visited and for all the moving around you did.

My recent trip to Germany (17 days) was E120 per day (not counting airfare) but I traveled on my own so didn't share a room. I accounted for everything I spent just because I like to keep track of my spending.

I try to keep hotel costs to a minimum and spend whatever I need to on sightseeing. I eat small lunches (soup or salad) and buy inexpensive or moderately-priced dinners. In Germany dinners were usually between E20 and E25 including a couple of glasses of wine. Wine is quite cheap in Germany so that kept the cost of dinner to a reasonable amount.

annhig

It was per person. So maybe a bit much? But I did think it was worth it, especially since the cities we visited are known to be quite expensive. >>

LR - that's not very different to what we spend per day - about €200 between us including accommodation. as you say, some places are more expensive than others; our last trip was to Germany where food and drink are cheaper than in Italy, France and Switzerland.

bigtyke

I think that was good considering where you went. My wife and I spent about 70 Euro each per day last year in Germany, but but that was staying in apartments or inexpensive zimmers, cooking many of our meals and while in the Black Forest using the free trains/buses.

NYCFoodSnob

I don't understand certain people's fascination with money, especially their nosy and inappropriate curiosity about what other people have and how much they spend.

Almost every price-point on travel is available on the internet these days, right down to the cost of your entree at that #1 restaurant on your to-do list. It's so easy to pull together a travel budget that suits your personal finances, there's almost no guess work or any chance of mystery expenses. And there's no need to be suckered into revealing your personal thoughts on spending or finance.

So why ask what others spend? Other than being nosy and manipulative, what good could it possibly do? Threads like these remind me of nosy neighbors or ignorant strangers who have a lot of nerve asking what I paid for my penthouse apartment. The appropriate answer: NONE OF YOUR *#&%ing BUSINESS.

This thread is utterly pointless, manipulative, and tacky. I hope it dies a quick death.

coffeequeen

We generally spend no more than $4,500 per 10 day trip, incl. rental car and airfare to Bavaria and Austria. We don't really care for staying in cities or much city sightseeing and stay in the countryside in family owned/run Pension's and B&B style places, which normally run 50 to 60 Euro per night for both of us. We have breakfast where we stay (typically a nice buffet incl. in the room price) and have dinners in restaurants. We aren't big on museums, but love mountain trips (cable cars) and alpine scenery. We've made friends with and still keep in touch with a number of people we've stayed with and that's probably the best memories of our trips, talking with and getting to know people who live in the places we visit.

danon

"this thread is manipulative"

It is possible to speak in general terms without supplying an exact amount unless one wishes to do so.
Most forums on the Net are visited by anonymous posters, there is very little invasion of privacy ( the real one).
Various threads on Fodors are just a
harmless chitchat among those who wish to participate.